The Story about Ralia

Ralia is a woman that we knew in Tel Aviv. In her mid-80s at the time, she lived in a nursing home; and Josiah and I (and later David when he was born) would visit her every week--every Tuesday morning. She had one childless daughter who lives in California, but no other family. Her stories, when I could pry them out of her, were amazing; her life was far from easy, but extremely interesting as far as the turmoil she had lived through in the land of Israel and all the "drama" her life had held, as well as all the people she had met. Despite her age, she was very sharp mentally. She spoke Hebrew, German, English, Russian, and I can't remember what other languages. But she was lonely. With her only daughter living far away and able to visit just once a year, Ralia's life, which had been so full and exciting, was reduced to her room at the nursing home...and her crafts with which she filled her time. She was so talented and creative. She loved to make these little dolls (in the picture below are a set of her 7 dwarfs which I have on a bookshelf in our guest room and which never fail to put a smile on my face as I see their perky little faces), and she would come up with endless ideas for various dolls: cowboys, clowns, soldiers, dancers--you name it, she could make it--all without a pattern.
She also crocheted beautifully, and she made this baby afghan for David before he was born which was very special since she had been carefully following along during my entire pregnancy with him. Such an intricate design in this afghan, but her aged fingers still managed to do outstanding work.

Ralia became a grandmother-figure to Josiah and I during our weekly visits to her. She was not afraid to speak her mind. :) But I loved her for it, because she was literally the only person I had in that role at the time: the person who could reassure me that despite Josiah's developmental delays (not crawling til 16 months, not walking til 18 months, etc.), he was just fine and I didn't need to worry...the person who would say when I worried aloud that Josiah was so very shy, "he's not shy; he's just choosy about who he's friendly with." Though it wasn't always easy to make those Tuesday morning visits, they became a valuable part of our time in Israel and a treasured memory now.

Ralia did NOT like having her picture taken, and she absolutely refused to look at pictures of herself. Well, I could make her have her picture taken, especially when I posed her with one of my boys; but I couldn't make her look at the pictures afterwards...or, even more, keep one and display it in her room.

That is, until Jeff got involved.

Jeff, being the computer guru--and kind soul--that he is, decided to fix up a picture that Ralia would actually like. So he started with the picture below (Ralia holding David when he was just a few weeks old)...

...and morphed it into this picture (below). And you know what? Ralia loved it!!! :) It was a little tricky because she had no idea the photo had been tampered with, and I didn't dare breathe a word of Jeff's scheme to her when I presented her with the picture. But I could hardly contain my joy when I saw how surprised and happy she was with how well the picture had turned out! She visibly brightened when she saw it, then she studied it carefully before finally proclaiming that she actually liked the picture. Whew! What fun to encourage her...and leave her with a picture of her and a special little boy that she loved almost like a grandson.

I was so grateful for Jeff's computer knowledge--and his willingness to take the time to add some sparkle to the often bleak life of dear Ralia.